The emergence of lightning as a natural disaster in Bangladesh and its impact on household dynamics

Abstract Lightning in recent years has become a disaster of great concern for Bangladesh due to increasing fatality, especially during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. This study addresses the socio-economic impact of lightning fatalities on the victims' households and delves into lightning myths, superstitions, and misconceptions. We interviewed (N=15) the households affected by lightning fatalities from 2015 to 2019 in Mymensingh, one of the worst lightning-affected districts of Bangladesh. Among the studied households (HHs), all except one were in rural areas, and almost all fatalities were male. Victims mainly were engaged in outdoor activities like farming and fishing during the lightning events. Due to the death of their primary wage earner, two-thirds of the HHs were in severe economic crisis. Children's drop out of school and early marriage of girl children were also observed due to the death of the breadwinner from lightning. We recommend a mass awareness program to change the indifferent attitude and misconceptions about lightning disasters along with introducing a suitable early warning and warning dissemination system to reduce future fatality. We also recommend increasing monetary and other support for the victim's family..

Medienart:	Preprint

Erscheinungsjahr:	2022
Erschienen:	2022

Enthalten in:	ResearchSquare.com - (2022) vom: 15. Juni Zur Gesamtaufnahme - year:2022

Sprache:	Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:	Akther, Sabrina [VerfasserIn] Rahman, Md. Marufur [VerfasserIn] Rezwana, Nahid [VerfasserIn]

Links:	Volltext [kostenfrei]

doi:	10.21203/rs.3.rs-1529632/v1

funding:
Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):	XRA035733942